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Race and Society in the 
Andean Countries 



By 

PHILIP AINSWORTH MEANS 



Reprinted from The Hispanic American Historical Review, 
Vol. I, No. 4, November, 1918 












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Reprinted from The Hispanic American Review, Vol. I, No. 4, November, 1918 



RACE AND SOCIETY IN THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES 1 

I. INTRODUCTION 

The countries in which the readers of The Hispanic Ameri- 
can Historical Review are especially interested are distin- 
guished by the presence of sociological and cultural problems 
which are directly caused by the racial constitution of their 
populations. In some of the lands in question the race prob- 
lems concern but two races, usually the white race and the 
indigenes; but in others as many as four racial elements combine 
to create a sociological situation of the highest complexity. 
Until the last three or four years almost nothing has been done, 
either in Hispanic America or in Anglo-Saxon America, to bring 
out the present-day potentialities for modern civilization which 
are indubitably latent in the indigenes of Latin America and in 
that portion of the population which is derived both from them 
and from the white, black, or yellow intrusive elements. 

Though my purpose here is to present a picture of the racial 
and social situation as I have observed it in the Andean coun- 
tries (Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia), I can not do so without 
first dwelling briefly on the work of a well-known Mexican 
investigator along these lines. 

Manuel Gamio, director of the Direction de Estudios Arque- 
ologicos y Etnogrdficos (part of the Secretarfa de Fomento, 
Mexico City), is the founder, in Mexico, of race-appreciation, 
the study which aims to learn what former and present cultural, 
intellectual, and spiritual characteristics of the indigenes of 
America are capable of being woven into the fabric of modern 
civilization. Race-appreciation seeks to understand the geo- 
graphical characteristics and problems of the land and to com- 

1 This study by Mr. Means is of primary interest from the anthropological 
side, but it is given place here as being of value to historians and general stu- 
dents of Hispanic America. — Ed. 

415 



416 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 

prehend the psychology and requirements of each racial group 
to the end that every step may be taken by society to over- 
come every environmental drawback to cultural development 
and to bring to the highest possible level of excellence every 
portion of the population. In a word, race-appreciation seeks 
to make society strong with a strength which is the unified 
strength of every ethnic group in the nation. 

The means which Gamio purposes to employ in this matter 
are these: 

(1) The acquisition of data referring to the racial characteristics, 
the manifestations of material and intellectual culture, the languages 
and dialects, the economic situation and the effects of the physical 
and biological environment of the past and present regional populations 
of the Republic [of Mexico]. (2) An investigation into the methods 
for improving the present economic, physical, and intellectual devel- 
opment of the said populations. (3) The preparation for a drawing- 
together of races, for a cultural "fusion and a linguistic unification, and 
for the economic stability of the said groups of the population which, 
only by these means, will be able to form a coherent nationality and a 
true nation. 2 

The need of race-appreciation is by no means limited to 
Mexico. As Gamio has pointed out in many places, most of the 
Hispanic American countries suffer sorely from its lack. In- 
deed, one may safely say that any country which has one well- 
developed native element and one or more well-developed 
intrusive elements in its population requires race-appreciation. 

After thus reminding my reader of the work which is already 
under way to introduce race-appreciation where it is needed, I 
shall present a short description of the racial situation in the 
Andean countries. Only by examining the question with as 
great care as possible in representative regions can its impor- 
tance be comprehended. 

2 Translated from the Programa de la direction de estudios arqueoldgicos y etno- 
grdficos, by Manuel Gamio (Mexico, 1918), pp. 16-17. 

Sr. Gamio has been at work on the question of race-appreciation several 
years. I venture to call attention to his book Forjando Patria (Mexico, 1916) 
and to his papers read before the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress 
(Washington, 1915). In these works the reader will find a very full and clear 
exposition of the principles of race-appreciation as it concerns Mexico. 



&rX!:.-/ 



EACE AND SOCIETY IN THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES 417 

II. RACIAL CLASSES IN THE ANDES 

Society in the Andean countries falls into three grand racial 
categories: Indigenous, Intrusive, and Mix-bloods. For the 
purposes of this short paper I shall assume that the Whites are 
the only intrusives and that the Mestizos (cross of indigene 
and white) are the only mix-bloods. The Negroes, Orientals, 
and the various mixtures arising from them and the other ele- 
ments are not of the first importance. 

Although reliable figures are practically non-existent in the 
Andes it is quite safe to assume that at least fifty percent of 
the population in the Andean countries is made up of almost 
pure-blooded indigenes. These people are the direct descend- 
ants, both in flesh and in culture, of the people who held undis- 
puted sway in the land up to about 1530. To understand those 
of today, the indigenes of the past must be studied. In the 
pre-Conquest period the Andes were the seat of a group of civili- 
zations of extraordinary interest. In the highlands there were 
two great periods of civilization, one being the Colla (or Aymara) 
empire which had its center at Tiahuanaco near the southern 
end of Lake Titicaca. It flourished probably between about 
400 A.D. and about 1000 A.D. Then, about 1100 A.D., the 
Inca tribe of Cuzco began to form a hegemony over the sur- 
rounding tribes of Quichua-speaking folk and finally, in the 
fourteenth century, it created the second great empire in the 
highlands. On the coast culture was more steady and contin- 
uous. The first settlers came unquestionably from Central 
America. There were many valleys which traversed (and still 
traverse) the absolutely desert coast-lands. Each of them was 
the seat of a society, usually of high material culture. As time 
wore on, these societies tended to merge together. Large con- 
federations, such as that of the Chimu in the North and that 
of the Chincha or that of Nasca in the South, were formed. 
Social development was very remarkable. From time to time 
the mountain cultures, whether that of the Colla (Tiahuanaco) 
empire or that of the Inca empire, exercised very profound 
influence over the civilization of the littoral. In the case of the 



418 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 

Inca empire, at least, that influence amounted to political 
control. 

Taken as a whole these pre-Conquest cultures of the Andean 
countries present several features of high excellence. The 
coast people had a skill and cleverness in handicrafts which 
enabled them to produce not only very fine pottery, brilliant in 
color and varied in form, but also cotton and woolen fabrics 
equal in quality to those made anywhere at any time. In the 
working of gold, silver, copper, stone, and bone they were 
adepts. The buildings and cities constructed by them were 
made of adobe (sun-dried mud and clay), but they were enor- 
mous in size and very well planned. The system of irrigation 
used on the coast was as efficacious, if not so pretentious, as 
that now in use. Social organization was characterized by a 
general orderliness and efficiency. In the highlands, save at 
Tiahuanaco, Cuzco, Quito, and similar seats of the aristocracy, 
culture was of a somewhat lower degree of development. Even 
so, however, the mountaineers were able to build many hundreds 
of miles of wonderful andenes or masonry terraces for agricul- 
tural purposes. They adopted this means of increasing the 
arable area of their narrow valleys, showing therein a sagacity 
and resourcefulness which commands respect. The architec- 
ture of the chief places (such as Cuzco, Ollantaytambo, Pisac, 
Huata, Machu Pichu, Cafiar, and Huanuco) was excellent, fine 
stone buildings of superb ashlar masonry in various styles being 
erected. Besides this, there were remarkable paths for the 
movement of troops and travelers. The government of the 
Incas was extraordinary. Not only did the state control all the 
activities of all the people, but also it saw to it that none lacked 
for anything which he needed. It was a perfect and very benev- 
olent aristocratic socialism. The court of the Sapa Inca (sover- 
eign) was marked by a high degree of splendor. Finely woven 
hangings, exquisitely designed vessels of pottery, objects of 
gold, silver, bronze, copper, wood, and stone all combined to 
give an atmosphere of luxury and pomp to the life of the ruler 
and of the royal family. All the provinces of the empire (which 
was nearly 3,000 miles in length at the time of the Conquest) 



RACE AND SOCIETY IN THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES 419 

sent as tribute to the court their most excellent products. There 
is plenty of evidence to show that the development, both mate- 
rial and intellectual, of the people of all classes in the Inca 
empire was almost equal to that which had characterized the 
analogous classes in Spain two or three centuries before the 
Conquest. 

From these remarkable people are descended the indigenes of 
the Andean countries of today. In the Conquest and Colonial 
periods they underwent all manner of abuse and mis judgment 
as to their qualities. I am very far from denying that there 
were good features in the Spanish Colonial Government; still 
further am I from denying that the Spanish crown sincerely 
sought to safeguard the best interests of its new subjects, the 
native peoples of the New World. Nevertheless, the Spaniards, 
instead of benefiting the indigenes, well nigh destroyed their 
wonderful civilization and greatly reduced their numbers. It 
is not my purpose here to go into the discussion of this matter 
deeply. I will simply state that, in my opinion the funda- 
mental reason why contact with Spain proved harmful to the 
natives of the Andes was that the Spanish government took no 
sympathetic cognizance of the native institutions and failed to 
construct its administrative machinery in such a way as to 
incorporate the remarkable governmental system to which the 
people were almost automatically obedient. When Spain sought 
to erect an European government over a people who were not 
European she was doomed to fail. 

Although for nearly four centuries the Andean indigenes have 
been subjected to the deteriorating effects of such a government, 
it is extraordinary how much of their own ancient organization 
still survives. I have studied these survivals both on the coast 
and in the highlands. Underlying the hierarchy of officials who 
form parts of the national governments of the Andean countries, 
governments patterned closely on that of the French Republic, is 
another hierarchy which is entirely unofficial and unrecognized, 
but which is nevertheless powerful. I refer to the so-called 
gobernacidn menor. As I shall make clear presently, the Andean 
countries are largely divided up into great landed estates. The 



420 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 

gobernacion menor is that by which the head of one of these 
estates or, in those regions where the general rule of large estates 
is broken, the gobernador of the district, rules over the Indians 
and laborers in general within his jurisdiction. At the head 
of the gobernacion menor stands the hacendado (owner of the 
estate or hacienda). Often several thousand people are directly 
subject to his will on one estate, and a rich hacendado sometimes 
will own half a dozen or more large estates. To administer 
them he (or his steward) acts through a series of native officers 
called curacas. They, in turn, have other officers under them. 
Each village has its curaca and its alguaciles. All are Indians, 
and all are direct survivals of the old Inca system of adminis- 
tration. The potentialities latent in this gobernacion menor, 
potentialities which might be developed in such a way as to 
better immensely the government of the Andean countries, 
should be carefully treated according to the principles of race- 
appreciation. 

As regards the present conditions under which the Indians 
live, there is a sharp contrast between the coast and the moun- 
tains. On the littoral, because of the proximity to the outside 
world, the presence of very active and highly organized trade, 
a general enlightenment and progressiveness on the part of the 
upper class, and one of the finest climates in the world, their 
condition is by no means wretched, as compared, that is, with 
the condition of the highlanders. On the coast the people of 
the indigenous race do not suffer so much from deliberate malig- 
nance on the part of their superiors (of which there is very little) 
as they do from total neglect and from the laisser alter attitude 
of the latter. Except in the cases of such rare exceptions as 
the estates of Don Victor Larco Herrera and of Don Antonio 
Grana y Reyes, almost nothing has been done to improve their 
living conditions or to intensify their vitality by means of sports 
and wholesome pastimes. A change is coming, however, for a 
new spirit of interest in the humble is beginning to make -itself 
felt in the upper class. This change is already seen, on the 
coast, in the care with which the regulations to prevent drunken- 
ness are upheld in many places. It will not be long before great 
improvements are made in all directions. 



EACE AND SOCIETY IN THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES 421 

In the mountains, on the other hand, the depressing environ- 
ment of a cold, rocky and difficult land to till combines with a 
general inferiority on the part of the hacendados and with a 
general prevalence of alcoholism, filth, disease, and debauchery 
to produce conditions which are exceedingly bad. It is not 
fair, however, to blame the people of the mountains for their 
degradation. Their lot is a hard one; added to that, the almost 
total absence (in remoter valleys quite total) of stimulating 
contact with the outside world and its ideals and of wholesome 
amusements, causes life to assume a dun-colored hue and an 
atmosphere of hopelessness and joylessness which fully accounts 
for all the evil which prevails. Little by little, even in the 
highland valleys, conditions are improving. Railways, the 
telegraph, the telephone, the cinema, the printing-press, and 
mechanical musical instruments are beginning to make life dis- 
tinctly more bearable, to help men to shake off sloth and bestial- 
ity and become vigorous and alert. The difference in moral 
tone between two highland villages which I know is simply 
astounding. They are not as much as six miles apart. In one, 
because the hacendado and his brother the priest are indifferent 
to the welfare of their charges, conditions of all sorts are horrible. 
In the other, the hacendado has installed a young priest from 
France, and the two work hand in hand for the people. They 
have games and races for them on Sundays and holidays and in 
the evenings there is always a fine cinema or a reading of inter- 
esting stories by the priest or some similar amusement which is 
open to all. The dwellings, too, though far from being what 
they should be, are much better than those in the other village. 
The people are stronger, longer4ived, more jolly, and self- 
respecting, and much more productive as regards work in the 
fields. 

The mestizo class forms about thirty to thirty-five percent of 
the population. The chief difference, in the mountains, between 
them and the Indians is that they wear garments suggestive of 
those of Europe, whereas the indigenes keep their ancient cos- 
tume. The mestizos also habitually speak Spanish, not Quichua 
or Colla. On the coast, the line between them as a rule is much 



422 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 

fainter, in both particulars, for there is now almost no trace 
either of the ancient dress or of the native tongues on the coast. . 
As a matter of fact, it is exceedingly difficult to find an abso- 
lutely pure-blooded indigene on the coast. In the colonial 
period (and even in more modern times) the practice of con- 
cubinage was very general, as it was in the South of this coun- 
try before the Civil War, and so the number of mestizos was 
very great. It should be added that the practice is now looked 
upon with general disgust by the hacendado class of the littoral. 
In general it may be said that the mestizo class is that which 
furnishes the stewards of the great estates, the shop-keepers, 
the small merchants, most of the lower clergy, the minor law- 
yers, the clerks and the servants who are in direct personal 
attendance upon the hacendado and his family. This state- 
ment, however, is made subject to the exceptions to be noted 
presently. 

The pure or nearly pure white class (strongest on the coast) 
is practically all in the land-holding aristocracy or in the upper 
ranks of the commercial and professional worlds. They are like 
white people anywhere else. 

III. SOCIAL CLASSES IN THE ANDES 

Most writers, realizing the existence of the three great racial 
classes, have assumed that they are conterminous with the 
three chief social classes — laborers and peasants, middle class, 
and upper class. Unfortunately this is only true in a measure. 
Although most whites are in the upper class it is by no means 
rarely that one finds them in the other two classes as well. Sim- 
ilarly, one quite frequently finds almost pure-blooded or really 
pure-blooded Indians in the highest society. The middle class, 
however, is almost wholly made up of mix-blooded people. 

Andean society, using that unfortunate word in its newspaper 
sense, is delightful. Families whose wealth or position is due to 
their great landed properties, to their aristocratic descent or to 
their intermarriage with such families combine with other 
families whose heads are important lawyers, doctors, or educa- 



RACE AND SOCIETY IN THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES 423' 

tors, or are influential in the business world to create a social 
life of great attractiveness on account of the multiplicity of 
interests. Lima, La Paz, Sucre, Quito, and other cities all have 
such a group of families. The genuine hospitality and the lively 
intellectual interest of such people make them not only charming 
companions but also sincere friends. It is a pleasure to note 
that, on the littoral at least, their old faults of absenteeism and 
indifference to the welfare of their dependents is gradually 
wearing away. Before long the same thing will be true of the 
highlands as well. Many land-holding families no longer dwell 
exclusively in their handsomely appointed (in some cases really 
palatial) city houses. More and more it is becoming the custom 
to live for a large part of the year on the hacienda. As a result, 
some of the country houses now being built equal in taste and 
charm and luxury those of North America or England. This 
tendency, coupled with an increasing fondness for sports and 
for automobiling, is one of the most hopeful signs I know of in 
the Andes. 

There is no need for me to add anything to what I have al- 
ready said incidentally regarding the middle and lower classes. 

IV. THE REQUIREMENTS OF ANDEAN SOCIETY NOW AND IN THE 

FUTURE 

Having pointed out in general terms the present racial and 
social characteristics of Andean society, I would like, before con- 
cluding this brief paper, to point out what seem to me to be the 
pressing needs of the Andean countries and their people. To 
my mind there is no doubt but that those countries might, under 
a carefully directed policy of race-appreciation, be brought to a 
very high level of development and might be given a place in the 
commerce and international politics of the world far higher than 
that now held by some more pretentious but really less admira- 
ble nations. A great deal will have to be done by the Andeans, 
however, before that position is attained. 

In the first place, every precaution must be taken by them to 
prevent the growing up among them of that destructive and 



424 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 

corrosive tendency which is so strong in Europe and North 
America. I refer to the leveling and disruptive variety of 
democracy. If any of the so-called "advanced" doctrines of 
Bolshevikism and syndicalism take root in the Andes, the danger 
to true and lasting progress will be tremendous. Instead of a 
destructive variety of democracy what the Andeans need is, 
first of all, a general improvement in the physique, mentality, 
morals, and standards of all classes. This applies especially, of 
course, to the lower class. To bring about such an amelioration 
race-appreciation must be resorted to. By that I mean just 
this: Hacendados and other persons in a responsible position 
should introduce new types of dwellings for the peasantry of 
their estates. The best way to do this would be to study the 
ancient architecture of the indigenes, amply represented in the 
designs on their pottery, and erect villages of houses made of 
good adobe, or still better, of concrete, patterned after the 
excellent ones in use before the Conquest. Cleanliness should 
be encouraged by every possible method, by swimming-tanks 
in the neighborhood of the villages, or by swimming-places in 
the rivers or in the sea. Good amusements should be made 
easily accessible, community games, dances, and singing being 
especially emphasized. The peculiar skill of the people in all 
manner of handicraft, weaving, metal-working, wood-carving, 
pottery, and so on, should be studied. Efforts should be made 
to increase agriculture, both in the direction of increased tillage 
and in that of new varieties of crops (such as silk, flax, and fine 
fruits) . Any hacendado who studied his property and the people 
on it with such improvements in mind would quickly find a 
score of salutary changes which could easily and economically 
be introduced. 

The responsibility which rests upon the hacendado class is, 
therefore, tremendous. On them depends the creation, both on 
the shore and in the highlands, of a wholesome and intelligent 
peasantry which alone can form the foundation for a progressive 
and stable society. 

The middle class, also, should seek to improve itself. The 
general disregard of even the essentials of personal hygiene must 



RACE AND SOCIETY IN THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES 425 

cease. The filth and squalor in which persons of this class who 
are by no means poor are content to live is not merely a dis- 
grace, but is also an actual menace to society as a whole. Clean- 
liness and neatness must replace foulness and slatternliness if 
this 'class and the peasantry wish to see their country take its 
place among the modern-minded nations of the world. 

In a word, all that the Andean countries need is a general 
introspective examination of the qualities both good and bad 
that now mark all classes. That finished, they should seek to 
nullify the bad by strengthening the good tendencies. The 
best features of each of the two great cultures represented, the 
indigene and the white, should be blended together to form a 
new fabric which shall make a suitable social and material gar- 
ment for a nation with a compound population. The solid 
foundation required by true democracy will then have been 
prepared, and the people will have acquired that poise and 
sanity of judgment which is the surest defense against Bolshe- 
vikism and kindred evils. 

Philip Ainsworth Means. 



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